MedPageToday posted an article yesterday titled, Most COVID Patients Landing in Hospitals Aren’t Fully Vaccinated*. (I think you’ll have to be a [free] member to read it in its entirety.) […]
Evaluating Options
This is the “critical thinking” portion of the blog. Is there a new scientific study or a new article or trend? How do they hold up? What skills and approaches are necessary to evaluate ideas, treatment methods, modalities, etc.? These are the types of questions considered in this category.
What We Know About the Covid-19 Vaccines
There’s a lot of misinformation floating around about the Covid-19 vaccines. I’m going to try to present some straight-up facts here. If they seem lopsided…well, that’s just the nature of […]
Medical Quackery: Fact or Farce?
Let me begin by acknowledging that medical quackery really does occur. The trope of the “snake oil salesman” exists because actual snake oil salesmen existed. But who are the real […]
How Much Can We Conclude from a Study? An Example Using Masks
The mask/no mask controversy rages throughout the United States. A key factor in the confusion is that multiple public health agencies have flip-flopped on their recommendations. It’s difficult to know […]
Confused About Masks? It’s Not Your Fault.
Confused about masks? It isn’t your fault. So are the experts — they just don’t want you to know it. Weak claims are referenced as though they were airtight […]
Logical Fallacies from the Vaccine Machine
Although it’s questionable whether they’re based on “representative samples,” it’s interesting that several studies of the language used by “pro-vaccination” and “anti-vaccination” individuals read something like this: “Another previous study […]
How Safe is Homebirth?
Do Your Research — Know the Risks! When the subject of birth crops up, inevitably so do the naysayers. They suggest that homebirthers are uneducated and foolish, because surely if […]
The Truth About Evidence-Based Medicine
When I was working on the “healing systems” section of this website, I stumbled across Wikipedia’s article on naturopathy, which described it as using “an array of pseudoscientific practices,” and […]